European Parliament, reserve 22 seats for Roma, says Hindu statesman
Hindu
statesman Rajan Zed is urging European Union (EU) to have 22 seats reserved for
Roma (Gypsies) in European Parliament to give representation to this most persecuted
community in Europe.
Upcoming European
elections of May 22-25 will elect 751 members of the European Parliament (EP) representing
EU's 500 million inhabitants, who will then shape European legislation over the
next five years.
Zed, who is
President of Universal Society of Hinduism, in a statement in Nevada (USA)
today, stressed that since Roma were spread all over Europe and in view of
prevailing xenophobia against them in many parts, it was nearly impossible for
them to win elections to EP. Instead of silently watching about 15-million Roma
suffer day after day for the last about 1200 years, which was immoral and a
sin, EU needed to show strong political will and find a way to give them
representation.
Rajan Zed
urged His Holiness Pope Francis and other religious leaders of Europe to also
demand representation for Roma in EP, as religion told us to help and love the
helpless, defenseless and downtrodden. They should raise their voice against
continuous Roma maltreatment and recognize, acknowledge and affirm the Roma as
children of God who deserved to be treated like all other people—as equals, Zed
added.
Zed further said that the alarming
condition of the Roma people was a social blight for Europe and the rest of the
world as they reportedly regularly faced social exclusion, racism, substandard
education, hostility, joblessness, rampant illness, inadequate housing, lower
life expectancy, unrest, living on desperate margins, language barriers,
stereotypes, mistrust, rights violations, discrimination, marginalization,
appalling living conditions, prejudice, human rights abuse, racist slogans on
Internet, etc.
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